The sweeping power and unique capabilities of the soldiers of Fort Bragg’s 18th Field Artillery Regiment are gaining a lot of attention — and they’re in high demand across Joint Forces Command.
“The more we go out and do operations like Operation Inherent Resolve, the more the appetite increases,” said Lt. Col. John Herrman, commander of 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment. “In 2013 to 2014, I was on the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) staff and started to see the appetite in Afghanistan.”
The unit, which operates the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, is tapped to deploy some time this year. Herrman said he’s not sure where the unit will be sent, but he is confident the soldiers are prepared to go.
Over the past few weeks, the soldiers have lived in the dirt — rehearsing into the day and night their abilities to strike fires, counter fires and suppress enemy air defense systems. They conducted their culminating training event Monday, after months of live-fire shooting, qualifications courses and medical training exercises.
The training was designed to gauge how quickly and efficiently soldiers working in different sections synchronized to accomplish missions. Some soldiers worked in the operations tent to gather intelligence on enemy movements to pass to rocket launchers. Other worked on the rocket system from firing points, and another group manned the ammunition holding area to resupply the rocket launchers when they called for…
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